"One who had to impart justice went to accused," says Aaditya Thackeray at the Speaker-Shinde meeting ahead of MLA disqualification verdict

Speaking to reporters in Kolhapur on Wednesday ahead of the verdict, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said, "The first thing is that we saw that the Speaker meeting the Chief Minister ahead of the verdict. Then it seeks to give the impression that the one who had to impart justice went to the accused. It has never happened in history," Junior Thackeray said.

"I feel that today's decision will be more important for the country than any one party and this is important for us as citizens of the country. People will come to know whether the Speaker is following democracy or not," he added.

On December 15, 2023, the Supreme Court extended till January 10 the time for the Speaker to pronounce a verdict on disqualification petitions against MLAs including Shinde.

The disqualification pleas have been pending since the Maharashtra political crises started. The plea sought direction for the Speaker to decide disqualification petitions within a time-bound manner.

On May 11, a five-judge Constitution bench had held that it could not disqualify the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government and reinstate Uddhav Thackeray as Chief Minster because the latter had chosen to resign instead of facing a test of strength in the Assembly.

On June 29, 2022, the top court gave a go-ahead to the floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. It had refused to stay the Maharashtra Governor's direction to the then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority support on the floor of the House on June 30.

In August 2022, the top court's three-judge bench referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for the issues involved in the petition filed by rival groups of Shiv Sena about the Maharashtra political crisis.

After the apex court's order, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation as the Chief Minister and Eknath Shinde was later sworn in as the Chief Minister. (ANI)